Boxing News: Old Man Hopkins Continues to Be Amazing

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- He’s more magician now than pure fighter, more
poised technician than brutal puncher. Above all, Bernard “The
Alien” Hopkins remains defiant. He’s 49 years old, doing something
most men his age are either dreaming of or reminiscing about.

Yet, the old man is in there against the world’s best. He controls
pace, distance, punch output and fight outcome.

Hopkins dipped and ducked, sniped and countered, and reduced an
aggressive Beibut Shumenov into a tepid, reluctant fighter in
making more history Saturday night at the DC Armory, winning a
split 12-round decision.

Entering the fight as the IBF titlist, Hopkins added Shumenov’s WBA
title. Shumenov, self trained, was 11 years old when Hopkins won
his first major title on belt on April 29, 1995. Hopkins became the
oldest fighter in boxing history to unify the light heavyweight
titles.

Everyone at ringside had Hopkins winning very easily.

The 19-year age gap never affected Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 knockouts),
giving the 30-year-old Shumenov (14-2, 9 KO) his first loss since
2009.

With 2:06 left in the 11th round, Hopkins caught Shumenov with a
perfectly timed overhand right to the jaw, dropping the Kazakhstan
expatriate for the second time in his career. Shumenov gingerly
regained his footing, but he was clearly hurt as referee Earl Brown
counted eight.

In the last minute of the 11th, the capacity DC Armory began
chanting “B-Hop, B-Hop, B-Hop!”

By then, it was already well over. Two judges confirmed it with
scores of 116-111 on judges Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth’s
scorecards, while Gustavo Padilla somehow saw it 114-113 for
Shumenov.

Punch stats bore out Hopkins’ domination. Though Shumenov threw
almost twice as many punches (608-to-383), Hopkins landed a total
of 186 punches (49-percent) to Shumenov’s 20-percent (124-of-608).
Hopkins used a steady mix of jabs (93-of-201) with power shots
(93-of-182), while Shumenov struggled the whole night against
Hopkins, landing 57 of 276 jabs (21-percent) and 67 of 332 power
punches (20-percent).

Throughout the fight, Hopkins wore that familiar grin that connoted
he knew something no one else knew. That was the punishment he was
going to dole out on Shumenov.

“I’m a 15-round fighter, I’m a 15-round fighter,” Hopkins kept
yelling after the fight. “Let’s go to Canada, let’s go to Canada.
I’m special, I’m special. Boxing is a science, it’s an art. I keep
telling the young guys that you don’t have to take punches. I’ll
let the historians analyze about my legacy. It’s good to box all of
these years and not be stuttering. I want to be the undisputed
light heavyweight champion of the world before I turn 50.”

That means taking on WBC champion Adonis Stevenson possibly
sometime later this year.

If Hopkins fights the way he did Saturday night against Shumenov,
he could very well do it.

Shumenov was gracious in defeat. He admitted Hopkins was the better
man. He admitted he used the wrong style.

“I have to watch the tape over and see what I did wrong,” Shumenov
said. “I am angry I didn’t get the victory. It hurts. It wasn’t
obviously my night.”

When asked if he was surprised it was a split-decision (though it
clearly wasn’t), Hopkins was philosophical about it, saying, “It’s
the commission’s job to regulate who made an improper scorecard,
it’s not my job to deal with that, my job is get ready to unify all
of these light heavyweight belts before I turn 50. I had a great
night, I felt great. There’s no definition for special.”

Naazim Richardson, Hopkins’ trainer, had been on him in the weeks
preparing for the fight to throw the six-inch right hand, which
dropped Shumenov in the 11th. The professor in the old man
surfaced, catching Shumenov over his jab. Shumenov ran right into
it, Hopkins pointed out, because he likes to spin towards his
left.

“It was there the whole fight, but Shumenov has an awkward style
and I’ve seen everything, I’ve been around for so long,” Hopkins
said, little twinkles in his eyes. “I made those adjustments. I’m
like a Joe Frazier. I get knocked down, but I get back up. I can
still go.”